Bombs Kill 22 After Deadly Day in Iraq

'When I read this news from abcnews, I really upset about what terrorists do. How can they kill people that don't have any relation to them?' - Mike

Two Bombs Explode, Killing 22 in Iraq, Following Bombings in Baghdad Slum That Killed 215

BAGHDAD, Iraq Nov 24, 2006 (AP)— Two bombs killed at least 22 people in northern Iraq and scattered violence shook Baghdad on Friday as the government tried to tamp down violence a day after Sunni-Arab insurgents killed 215 people in the capital's Sadr City Shiite slum, the deadliest attack of the war.

The bomb attack in Tal Afar, 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, involved explosives hidden in a parked car and in a suicide belt worn by a pedestrian that detonated simultaneously outside a car dealership at 11 a.m., said police Brig. Khalaf al-Jubouri. He said the casualties 22 dead, 26 wounded were expected to rise.

In Baghdad, followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr warned they would suspend their membership in parliament and the Cabinet if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets with U.S. President George W. Bush in Jordan next week, a member of parliament said. Bush and al-Maliki were scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday in Amman.

The al-Sadr bloc in parliament and government is the backbone of al-Maliki's political support, and its withdrawal, if only temporarily, would be a severe blow to the prime minister's already shaky hold on power.

Legislator Qusai Abdul-Wahab, an al-Sadr follower, said in a statement that U.S. forces were to blame for Thursday's bombings in Sadr City that killed 215 people and wounded 257 because they failed to provide security.

"We say occupation forces are fully responsible for these acts, and we call for the withdrawal of occupation forces or setting a timetable for their withdrawal," Abdul-Wahab said.

Al-Sadr's followers hold six Cabinet seats and have 30 members in the 275-member parliament.

Al-Sadr also challenged sheik Harith al-Dhari, the Sunnis' most influential leader who heads the Association of Muslim Scholars, to issue a fatwa, or religious edict, that condemned Sunni attacks on Shiites.

The Shiite cleric said al-Dhari should ban Sunnis from joining al-Qaida in Iraq and organize the reconstruction of the Shiite Golden Dome mosque in Samarra, north of Baghdad. The destruction of the mosque ignited the sectarian bloodshed after suspected al-Qaida bombers blew the shrine apart on Feb. 22.

(Read More...)

Herbal Cure for Your Aching Back?

New Medical Review Shows Herbs Can Be Effective Pain Relievers

April 19, 2006 — A new study suggests herbal remedies like devil's claw, white willowbark and cayenne plaster may be as good as standard pain medication in dealing with short-term back pain. If true, that would be welcome news to many people.

Four out of five Americans will develop back pain, and they will spend $50 billion a year in a quest for relief. Back pain is the most common job-related disability and the fifth most-common cause of doctor visits.

The review, done by a group of researchers led by Dr. Joel J. Gagnier of the Provincial Medical Centre in Windsor, Ontario, appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library. It was comprised of 10 studies that tested nearly 1,600 adults who suffered from nonspecific low back pain, not including those who suffered from arthritis, an infection, cancer or sciatica.

ABC News' Medical Editor Dr. Tim Johnson said that the Cochrane Group was "highly respected for their ability to review studies and come up with conclusions."

The group found that the literature demonstrated "the effectiveness of three different herbal products," Johnson said. "They say they found three medications, devil's claw, at a 50 [milligram] or 100 milligram dose; white willowbark, at a 240 milligram dose; and cayenne plaster, are effective compared to a placebo or a dose of Vioxx, which is no longer on the market."

Johnson said the herbs should be tested against standard over-the-counter painkillers like Tylenol, Aleve and Ibuprofen before drawing conclusions.

"This is one more tool in a huge bag of tools that are possibly available to treat low back pain," Johnson said. "If we had a one-size-fits-all solution that would be a good thing, but we don't, and what works for one person is not always effective for every person."

Johnson said that the review's authors stressed that the herbal remedies were good for short-term use — four weeks to six weeks at a maximum. The products are also difficult to find, and dosage can be tricky because they are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.


The standard treatment for back pain "usually involves over-the-counter medicines and some kinds of exercise, but it is a trial-and-error process."

"The most-effective treatment for low back pain is time," Johnson said. "In the vast majority of cases, you'll get better within weeks or months. … That's why it's so difficult to study, because very often people get better on their own and you don't know if your medication actually worked."

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Chat: The 2007 Microsoft Office System Integration

Gary (Moderator):
Welcome to today’s chat. Our topic today is the 2007 Microsoft Office System Integration.

Let's get started.

Start of Chat

Beth Melton (Expert):
Q: Can we get a brief overview of some of the integration that is coming out or can you point us to a site that will explain the features?
A: I do have an upcoming article on the new Office Integration features which should be published soon on:http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/community/article_archive.mspx

Beth Melton (Expert):
Q: Can you point me to the Office Community or TechNet forums (url) so I can post the issue with public contact folders?
A: Some highlights from the article are: Document Themes, new Paste Options, and it contains some of my favorite features that have been around such as using Word's Mail Merge to send mass email but send an individual, personalized email to each recipient.

Beth Melton (Expert):
Q: What new paste options?
A: Here is a link to the Office Communities:http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx

Beth Melton (Expert):
Q: Hi, when I'm in the Outlook 2007, in the message has some website link, if I click on an URL, I would receive an "an unexpected error has occurred" message, I can only right click on that url and copy the hyperlink, open IE window and get to the site.
A: The TechNet forums can be found at: http://forums.microsoft.com. However note those for the Office 2007 beta appear to be down today.

Beth Melton (Expert):
Q: It is very inconvenient, is there any way that I can just click on the URL and go to that website? Thanks.
A: One of the new paste options is for setting default paste actions have been added to Office Word 2007 such as setting your default to paste as unformatted text.

Beth Melton (Expert):
A: These can be found by clicking the Office Button and then Word Options. In the Word Options dialog box, click Advanced. Then In the Advanced options, locate the Cut, Copy, and Paste section.

Beth Melton (Expert):
A: So far I haven't had any difficulty with URLs in email messages in Outlook 2007 so what you are encountering could be caused by a number of things. The best place to go to get help in determining the cause is the Office Communities or TechNet forums. You can find links to both of these in the Expert chat window.

Beth Melton (Expert):
Q: Hi, Beth, about my Outlook problem, it might be only happened to my computer because every day when I open the first message, an add-in dll error would show up, I just close the error message. I did saved the error message but I misplaced it.
A: That could be part of the problem, but you should be able to find installed add-ins under Tools/Trust Center and the add-ins section. Chances are, the error you are encountering is due to the add-in not working correctly in Outlook 2007. If that's the case then you should be able to disable the add-in.

Beth Melton (Expert):
Q: I believe that message has something to do with Symantec add-in didn't install or load.
A: If it is a Symantec add-in then it could be checking the URLs to make sure they are valid. If it isn't functioning then that may explain why you are encountering problems.

Beth Melton (Expert):
Q: More problem with Outlook, when I asked a question in the "help" box and I can not connect of office on line.
A: You might see if the same occurs in the other Office applications. If it doesn't then I suspect it is linked to your URL issue.

Beth Melton (Expert):
Q: I got the same problem in Word help, the message is like this "Not connected. To see additional and update content from Office online, click here.", when I click it, same message shows up.
A: Usually the likely cause of not connecting to Online Help is a firewall.

Beth Melton (Expert):
Q: Hi, Beth, with all these office beta problems I have, can I uninstall it and reinstall again? Do I need to enter the license key again? I have the office beta installed on the other machine and it works just fine, but not on mine pc.
A: Yes, if you uninstall and reinstall you would need to enter your key again. First I would try using Detect and Repair.

Gary (Moderator):
Thank you everyone for joining us today.

Beth Melton (Expert):
Thanks for coming everyone!

(From TechNet)